NORMALLY Lauren Jackson’s Olympic basketball silver medals are hands down the most famous laurels at the Albury Library Museum.
On Monday though, for a few hours, they had some serious competition with a Nobel Peace Prize medal on display near the entrance to the library.
The bronze and gold-plated medallion was awarded last year to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Its appearance in the library was a stop-off on the group’s bike ride from Melbourne to Canberra to raise awareness of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
ICAN Australian director Gem Romuld said the group was keen to share its success, with the medal having been to every mainland state since arriving in Australia in March.
“We want all Australians to be proud of it, because it’s the first home-grown Nobel Peace Prize,” Ms Romuld said.
“No other home-grown organisation or home-grown individual has been awarded the peace prize.”
The medal, nicknamed Alfred, after the founder of the Nobel prizes, has been carried in its wooden box by a cyclist for every kilometre of its journey.
“It’s always with someone on the bike path, it’s never in the support vehicle,” Ms Romuld said.
“Just symbolically we feel it’s a powerful message for the medal to cycle the whole way.”
En route, ICAN is seeking support for Australia to sign the treaty through handing forms to politicians.
They have sought support from member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy, member for Indi Cathy McGowan, member for Albury Greg Aplin and member for Farrer Sussan Ley.
Ms Romuld said every Greens federal politician had backed the treaty with 71 Labor MPs and two Coalition supporting it.
Albury Council’s deputy mayor Amanda Cohn, a Greens member, welcomed the medal’s visit on Monday at an official function at the library.
Across the world, 60 countries have signed the treaty and 15 have ratified it.
The cyclists will continue their ride today, with a stage to Jingellic via Table Top, before travelling through Tumbarumba and Gundagai.
They are due to complete the journey in Canberra on September 20, the first anniversary of the treaty being opened for signatures.
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